KidLit Forum

THE TREASURE, by PERETZ, ISAAC LÖB


The Treasure was collected by Isaac Lob Peretz, who was a Yidish and Hebrew writer from Poland. He was born at Samoscz, government of Lublin, in 1851.

The collected writings of I.L. Peretz have first been published in Hebrew "Kol Kitbe Pereẓ," Warsaw, 1899, in Yiddish, on the fiftieth anniversary of his birth "Schriften," ib. 1901, and in Russian (St. Petersburg, 1902-1903); they have appeared also in several other European languages. "Ha-'Ugab," poems, was published in 1896.

The treasure was first translated into English by Helena Frank in 1904 and published by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) ,a non-profit membership organization founded by German Jews. The first two of I.L. Perez’s translated volumes were Stories and Pictures (1904) and Yidish Tales (1912)- the second book is the one I’ve consulted.

The story is about a poor family. It seems that one night, the father couldn’t sleep and decided to go out. There, he addresses the Lord asking for help saying that this is the perfect moment the Lord should bless him with a treasure out of His treasure-house. As he says this, he sees something like a little flame coming along out of the town. He follows that flame. He is tempted to touch it and to catch it but, he instantly realizes that it’s the Devil’s voice that pushes him to do that. Therefore, after a long walk of a Sabath’s day journey, in which he manages not to catch or cover the flame that was following him, he returns home. There, he notices that the flame has not disappeared and that it moves under his bed. He finally throws his dressing-gown under the bed and covers the flame. Then, under the bed he discovers a treasure but he decides not to utter a word about it until the end of the Sabbath as people would start talking about luck and treasures and they would stop saying their prayers during the Sabbath and he would have led his household and half the town into sin. The story is , therefore about a man who is rewarded after he places the Sabbath above his desire for becoming rich.

Position in the Aarne- Thomson- Uther Index
In my opinion, this tale belongs to:
Religious Tales- God rewards and punishes - 777 The wandering Jew

Characters and functions according to Vladimir Propp:
I-one of the members of the family absents himself from home
XIX- The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated
XX- The Hero returns
XXV-A difficult task is proposed to the hero
XXVI- The task is resolved

Tricky story, with a distinctly Jewish flavour in it. A bit let down by your imprecise English, though.

Could have used a more detailed discussion of Propp's functions and roles...

I'll add a few things that I find interesting, I hope they will seem so to you, too.
I was thinking, the fact that the man chose not to take the treasure in favor of the prayers during the Sabbath symbolizes self sacrifice. In a way, this might actually be a rite of passage as he had to overcome his inner desires in order to change himself and become an insider. The father was at first uninitiated, neophyte, unable to sustain his family, with a low financial condition.
Self refraining from different instincts (in most FT: sleep, food or water) is a main condition in accomplishing the rite of passage from a state to another. In this fairy tale, the new state comes with a prize, the treasure. Apparently, his state shifted from poor to wealthy, and became able to take care of his family's needs.
However, the treasure covered with flames that falls from the sky is rather dubious, the image does not seem to belong to a "heavenly scenery". The voice that whispers is demonic, and provokes to sin. We are not sure if the treasure is really God's intervention. Another interpretation might denote that the treasure was indeed a gift from God, sent deliberately during the Sabbath in order to test the man's faith.